Dutch growers must transform the Dutch flower auction into the Wall Street for flowers, according to Rabobank. Love for the business has given Dutch cut flower growers worldwide leadership, but has blinded them to new market dynamics, says Dick Oosthoek of Rabobank Nederland.
Dutch auctions
Ask a tourist in Amsterdam to describe what’s typically Dutch and the odds are they’ll say tulips, or flowers. The Netherlands is the largest cut flower producer in the European Union. It’s also the EU’s most important trading centre for cut flowers. Alongside home-grown varieties, the Dutch flower auctions handle over 60 per cent of total EU imports from abroad. “On the face of it a healthy state of affairs. But where are the other 40 per cent of flowers being traded?” asks Dick Oosthoek, Horticulture Manager at Rabobank Nederland.
In a recent web seminar Oosthoek called on his clients in the sector to anticipate the challenges of the coming decade. “The Dutch horticulture industry is half the size it was 10 years ago. So what will it look like in 2020?” he asked the flower growers who logged on.
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